JBlog News

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Transplant, Horticultural Success?

It's no secret here in Shiloh that our "garden" is the worst in the yishuv, community. That's right. Granted that we have a lovely vineyard, which even gives us sweet grapes in the right season, but besides that, OK and an olive tree even more temperamental than most, our garden is disgusting.
Periodically I "drop" seeds and fruit in all sorts of places hoping for miracles. Well, a miracle did happen and some sort of squash took root in a planter. It shared its soil with a "spider plant," that has a story of its own, not yet blogged about.

The container, large for most purposes, didn't suffice for the large vegetable.

That meant that we, the two worst gardeners imaginable, had to risk transplanting it to the real holy earth. So, on Friday, a short time before Shabbat we took the plunge. My husband dug a hole in a very shady place, right next to the front door/stoop and under the drain pipe. Then very gently he loosened all the soil from the pot, and we carried it down to its new home.

We watered it as thoroughly as we could and prayed that G-d would have mercy on the innocent plant, especially since we couldn't care for it on Shabbat.

On Shabbat we could see that the leaves fattened up and more flowers were blooming. Here is a picture from this morning.

PS No, I don't know what it is. It could be some sort of dla'at, pumpkin type of squash, large or mini.